Thursday, October 4, 2012

GHC12: How to Get There? Secrets of Success, in the style of GLEE

Oct 4,2012- Day two of the Grace Hopper Conference, and this is a session from the Theme Track. For those of you who don't know, the theme of this year's conference is "Are we there yet?". I chose to attend this session as the abstract was very catchy, and felt this session would help me pick up some best practices to be successful.

Here is the abstract of what this session has to offer:

Are we there yet? Are women enjoying thriving, successful careers in the computing industry? With the help of Taylor Swift, Frank Sinatra, Britney Spears, and more, we will share 10 secrets for success in the computing industry. Each tip will be backed by personal stories and of course music! You will dance away from this session with sound career advice.

Now, a little about the speaker: Jennifer Marsman ( http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jennifer/about.aspx) is a Developer Evangelist at Microsoft. What this means is- Jennifer's job is to learn all the new technologies at Microsoft and present it to the world!!! How cool is that? Within the first few minutes, Jennifer caught the attention of everyone in the room. She is one of the most energetic speakers I have ever seen, and I became her fan within the first few minutes!

I loved her style, the way she used the stage, her presentation deck (they were simple- with just one line, and yet so powerful), and the words she chose (this just conveys the amount of thought she put behind these ideas). Loved it!

Let me now get to the 10 secrets of success according to Jennifer...

Tip 1: Speak NOW.

Song: Tawlor Swift’s 'Speak now'

This can be broken into three
parts: Demonstrate passion, Ask questions, Think out loud.

All this attribute to being vocal
in every possible situation. And why is this important? Take for instance your
team meeting- You have an exciting new idea but you don’t speak out, and someone
else comes up with that same idea after 20 minutes. You are like “!#@#!” , and
it gets worse when that idea is appreciated by all, and is considered the next
big thing.

Jennifer also says it’s always
good to ask questions. Often people are judged smart because of the quality of
questions they ask.

And now the third aspect- think
out loud. This is especially important in interviews. Even from my personal
experience- the interviewer is impressed when you think out loud, and interact
based on all the thoughts running through your head at that moment. Never stop
talking!

Above all – be genuine. Let your
passion for technology shine.

Tip 2: Let’s give them something
to talk about.

Song: Bonnie Ruitt’s 'Let’s give
them something to talk about'

Jennifer syas, “at the end of the
day – half of your job is doing great things, and the other half is
communicating them”. If you don’t communicate your ideas and share them with
your team- no one would ever know what you accomplished.

Here is another secret: Managers
don’t do the actual execution of work. A good manager takes the vision plan and
translates them into an execution plan. Use your regular 1:1 meetings with your
manager to drive conversations about the work you accomplished. They can be
business trip summaries, status reports, report of all the good things you
learnt at GHC, etc. When you talk- you give them something to talk about in
their meetings with their manager. And, if you have done some extraordinary
work- then you are making them proud in their 1:1 with their managers.

<Random tip: Consider your org
chart as if it were a family tree- it makes life at work lot easier. And, I am
definitely gonna try this from tom. So, my GPM is now my Grandpa at work :) . Thanks Jennifer!! >.

Tip 3: Respect

Song: Just a lil bit

Diversity isn’t just gender,
sexual orientation, color, caste, or things like that. Diversity can be
something as simple as new hires from college vs people in the industry for 10
yrs.

Always remember that everyone you
come across is good at something that you don’t know. Everyone is unique in
their own way. You can always learn something from everyone. Look for what it
is that they can teach you and respect them for that.

I totally agree with this. If
each of us can learn one good thing
with everyone else around us- we would all become kings of many trades.

Tip 4: Luck be a lady

Song: Frank Sinatra’s 'Luck be a
lady with me'

Jennifer saw the following
formula at a conference she attended.

Success= Hard work
+ Intelligence + Luck

She says it made her really
furious seeing luck in the equation for success. But over the time she learnt that this is
completely true! Luck is indeed an element for success.

So, what you we do to be
successful. In the equation we can control hard work (how hard you work), and
intelligence (how much you can learn). Luck is something that we cannot
control. If you see a continuous stream of things not working out for you- then
maybe it’s not luck anymore. There might be something else that is going wrong,
and it’s time for you to work on that.

Tip 5: Be Prepared

Song: 'Be Prepared' from the Lion
King

This is fairly obvious. Being
prepared will help you to be successful. Think ahead of the meetings you go to,
think before you talk in public, be prepared for the day to day things you do
at work.

Tip 6: Wind beneath My Wings

This refers to the mentors and
role models in your life. This conference is probably the best place to find
good role models. But wait, who is a mentor and who is a role model?

Mentors are people who actively
help you to become successful whereas role models are people whom you worship
from far.

You can have many mentors based
on what you want to learn from them. Jennifer says she has a mentor for
blogging, one for professional career, etc.

Another advice that Jennifer
gives is, “at some point in your career- either speak or blog”. She says this
is essential because this will help you be a role model for the next
generation. (How true!). The virtue of
giving a talk or writing helps you be a visible sign of technology in your org.
If you happen to be one of those who are scared of public speaking- then Blog!

Tip 7: I love you always forever

Song: Donna Lewis’ 'love you
always forever'

Love what you do. Find something
that you absolutely fall in love with. You’ll be more successful if you do what
you love.

<Did you know? Jennifer spoke
about what is called the Emotiv. It’s a headset that actually reads your brain
wave. And there is an API to code for that. When you envision- that records
that set of brain waves (Testing phase). Then in the execution phase- you can
control everything with your mind. How cool is that!!>

Tip 8: Oops I did it again

Song: Britney Spears’s 'Oops I did
it again'

Make Mistakes. It is ok to make
mistakes. But what is important is what and how you learn from your mistakes.
Your confidence grows with every new thing you learn from your mistake. Take more
risks and strive to do bigger things.

I have heard my manager say the
same thing. He says “it’s ok to ask for forgiveness by doing mistakes than an
apology for not doing it at all”. Makes total sense. Doesn’t it?

Tip 9: Lean on Me

Song: Bill Withers’s 'lean on me'

Humans always need support to be
successful. Jennifer says “out of time, health and money- pick two at any given
time”. You can probably have only two
out of the three. So, delegate the thing that you don’t have to someone whom
you trust and know will help you. You really can’t do it alone in this world.

Tip 10: Don’t stop believing

The final tip for success is to believe
in yourself. Jennifer spoke about the Impostor syndrome. For those of you who don’t
know- please read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome.
I wasn't aware of the impostor syndrome till this min, but I can now totally relate
to it. Get over the impostor syndrome and
have confidence in yourself. You know more than you probably think you do.

I hope these ten tips will help you get be successful in whatever you do.

<Update: I got to meet Jennifer at a Microsoft Luncheon at GHC. She is totally awesome. She had the same energy and enthusiasm while talking to me. >